Another World
by LadyofDurin
Summary: Ben moved into the farm after the shooting in Contention and tries to help Dan where he can. Not much of a summary but give it a try, you never know ;)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, just taking a shot here, let me know if you like it by clicking the button that says review please!**

Ashley was awakened by the alarm, she turned it off and looked at the clock, 2:30 AM. In the middle of the night, she threw the covers off and got out of bed, pulled her small suitcase out from under the bed and opened the door.

She peered into the darkness and when her eyes were accustomed to it and she saw that it was safe she crept softly to the stairs. Tree for tree she slowly walked down each foot gingerly putting down. When she came downstairs she stood still for a moment in order to convince herself that everyone was still sleeping. She sighed and stretched her hand toward the door.

"Ma'am Ashley?"

Ashley almost jumped out of her skin and turned with a whirl.

"Alfred, you startled me." she said.

"Leaving without saying goodbye?" he said, sounding almost hurt.

"Oh Afred," she said suddenly, and she looked at him, "I'm really sorry but I have no other choice."

"I know Ma'am."

Ashley looked at him surprised.

"Remember that I have known you your whole life, sometimes I think I know you better than your father and mother ma'am."

Ashley smiled. "That would not surprise me."

"I'm sorry that they force you to do this, I will miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Ashley said and in a second she had closed the distance between them and gave him a hug, "you won't say anything?" she asked softly.

"What can I say? I don't even know where your going, Ma'am."

"That's true, I don't even know where I'm going." she sighed.

"Wherever it is, please be careful Ma'am."

"I promise." said Ashley.

She looked at him and walked out the door. She had a pretty nice life, loving parents, great family, many friends. She bit her lip and pondered. Actually she did quite love her life. That was untill her parents made a dicision for her wich she absolutely didn't agree with and despite the fact that she was old enough to make her own decisions they would not listen to her.

Yesterday she went to see Jessica, a friend who works at the bank. She had asked Jessica if she would put all the money she had in her account in a bag that she would pick up later. She had asked Jessica not to tell anyone, well, except her boss who had to give permission to empty her account, but she knew hem, he was a friend, so that was no problem.

At the end of the afternoon, however, Jessica and her boss tried to persuade her to stay, that they would find something to stop it, but she sighed and said she had no other choice. After one last hug she said goodbye to the best friend she ever had.

She walked down the path and closed the gate softly behind her, after a last glance she walked away, she was almost at the corner of the street when she heard someone calling her name. She turned and saw her standing there.

"Jessica!" she hissed and walked towards her, "what are you doing here? It's in the middle of the night!"

"You don't really think I'll just let you go alone?" she said.

"What? No, you can not ..."

"Yes I can and I will," Jessica held up a bag, "it's not much but it's better than nothing." she said.

"Jess ... I can not ask this of you."

"You are not asking, you never need to ask Ashley."Jessica laughed and she laughed along with her friend.

"Thank you." she said.

Ben looked through the window of the bar and saw Dan sitting at the bar with a glass of whiskey, he pushed it around and took another sip.

"Where is he?" he heard someone say.

"At the bar," Ben pointed at him and then looked at Lisa, "start a conversation with him, make him smile and if it is possible, make sure he has some fun." he said and winked at her.

"Okay."

Ben watched as Lisa then entered the bar and introduced herself to him, she smiled and Lisa sat down beside him. Since Dan and Alice had parted ways with Mark and William to go south he had been alone. That was about over a year ago. The only thing he did was work on the farm, looking after the livestock, the chores that needed to be done. Ben came along occasionally to help him but somehow he was still accustomed to wander around with his horse so after a few months he began to get restless and he settled up his horse and left. Dan had told him that he and Alice had not been intimate since Mark had gotten ill. It was not the first time that Ben had sent a woman to entertain Dan and he knew that Dan hated it but he had to do something. It had been years since he had been with a woman, it was for his own good. After an hour he saw Lisa saying goodbye and they parted ways. Lisa came back outside.

"I did my best." she said and walked away.

Ben sighed and looked after her.

"How long are you going to keep doing this?" He heard Dan say besides him.

"That depends on you." replied Ben.

Dan looked at him.

"What the hell do you mean with that?" he asked.

"Life is more than sleeping and working, you sometimes need a little distraction, too."

"So you send every woman my way to see and hope she can seduce me?"

He walked away but Ben grabbed his arm and pulled him towards him, the rancher wobbled and almost fell over because of his wooden leg.

"I care about you Dan, you're my friend, I do not want to see wasting away on that farm, you're also just a man, a man with needs. I am only trying to help."

Dan went scarled at the last words Ben said.

"I do not need your help to find a wife, Wade." Dan said, and he tore himself loose with so much force that he nearly fell over again.

"No you're doing just fine by yourself." Ben said sarcaticly.

Dan looked like he wanted to say something but instead he walked to his horse, mounted and rode away.

Ben hated it when Dan called him Wade and he knew it. He watched as Dan disappeared into the distance and then mounted his horse. He took a detour to the farm and after one hour when he saw the farm the distance he saw that Dan sat on the porch looking out over the landscape. He put the horse in the stall next to Dan's and took the saddle off. He brushed it and gave it water and food. Ben walked to the porch and sat down next to Dan.

"I'm sorry, okay." he said suddenly.

Dan looked at him in surprise.

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me."

"Yes, I did, I just want to know if I heard it right."

"I am not going to say it again."

Dan laughed and looked over the landscape again.

"Okay okay, just stop sending women to me, I'm not looking for a someone, Ben."

"Dan .."

"No Ben, I mean it, the farm and the cattle are more important."

"The farm is doing fine and the cattle is too."

"And to keep it that way, they have to have my undivided attention."

"Okay whatever you want. I'm going to bed." Ben said and walked inside the house.


	2. Chapter 2

Ashley and Jessica were almost at the trainstation, Ashley looked at her watch to see how long they had.

"The train leaves in 5 minutes."

"Where exactly is that train going?" Jessica asked.

"Contention, where we will take a room and ask whether they know a nice quiet little town we can go."

"Why can't we stay there?"

"Because it's too obvious, I want to go somewhere where they can't find me that easily."

"Okay," Jessica replied, "Ash, do you think this is a good idea? I mean, I know you disagree with your parents and I fully understand that, seeing the choice they made, but this is very rigorous."

"I know, but at least I'm not alone." she said and looked at Jessica.

After a few hours the train railed into the station of Contention and when they get off they noticed the town was almost deserted. Pretty normal seeing it was after midnight. The hotel was right across the station. It looked small. The only room that was still available was the bridle suite. Ashley and Jessica shrugged and sighed their names in the book. Jessica took a shower while Ashley walked back downstairs to ask if there was a nearby town, preferably on a few hours distance.

"The next town is Bisbee, but that is rather three days riding." the receptionist told her.

"Three days? How do I do that I have no horse." Ashley sighed.

"I can take you there." she suddenly heard behind her.

Ashley turned around and saw a boy standing, no more than 16 years old.

"That's very nice of you but I can not ask that of you."

"I'm offering." he said smiling and took a step closer.

"I'm with a friend ..." She tried.

"My horse is young and strong enough for both of you."

"And you? 3 days walk?" she asked.

"I am young and strong too." he said confidently.

Ashley looked at him and laughed at his determination. The boy smiled back, a smile that made his eyes twinkle.

"Well, okay then. I'm Ashley." she said as she reached out her hand.

"William Evans." he said, shaking her hand.

"Well, William, what time do we leave tomorrow?" she asked.

"8 o'clock?"

"That is very early, but okay, I will ensure that Jessica and I are ready." she said.

After saying goodbye, she went back upstairs and back into the room, she saw Jessica was standing at the window and was looking in a book.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I thought the Bible but it is a book with all this sketches in it, it's pretty good, look this is the last." she said.

Ashley took the book and looked at the sketch. It was a cowboy in a chair and he looked out the window with a rifle on his lap.

"You think he really exist?" Jessica asked herself.

"No idea, but if he does I would definitely not mind running into him, he's cute." Ashley said meaningful.

Jessica smiled and looked a little better at the sketch.

"He's actually very handsome indeed.`

"By the way, I have transport arranged for us."

"Oh yeah?" Jessica asked.

"Yes, one William Evans wants to bring us to Bisbee, which is about 3 days away. He has only 1 horse."

"For both of us?" Jessica asked.

"Yes, he says that his horse can handle us."

"And he? 3 days walk?" Jessica asked incredulously.

"He was very convincing. And now to bed, we must be ready at 8 o'clock."

Jessica muttered something about way too early but said nothing. She put the sketchbook on the table beside the bed and got into bed to go to sleep. Ashley went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and change clothes before she went to bed. The next morning, Jessica awakened by the sunlight that shone in her face. She stretched and got out of bed. While she was in the shower, Ashley was also awakened and she turned around to the window. Her eyes fell on the sketchbook and she looked once more at the picture of the cowboy. She ran her finger over it, and looked at him again properly. The one who drew it was good, very good. And the object was also very appealing ... She had to admit. She bit her lip and before she knew it she walked to her suitcase and put the sketchbook in it. For just a moment she hesitated .. What if the owner noticed that he was missing it and wanted it back? Or the cowboy wanted it? Just as she wanted to take the sketchbook again Jessica came walking out of the bathroom.

"Good morning." she said.

"Good morning, you're up early."

"Bad curtains," Jessica said and she pointed to the window, "the sun was shining on my face."

Ashley laughed and walked past her into the bathroom.

"Want me to wait for you?" called Jessica.

"No, you just go downstairs, I will meet you there." Ashley replied.

* * *

Dan was up early the next morning, he had brought the cattle to the usual place and was now working on the land. Ben stood on the porch with only his pants on watching him, Dan also had taken of his shirt, his skin was tanned by all the work in the sun. Ben was glad the farm was thriving so good and that the cattle was doing good aswell.

Taking that into account, Dan was right, he didn't need a woman to take care of him, he was doing fine by himself, no doubt about that. But that was not what Ben meant, it were the other things, the small things. A kiss here a smile there, a touch every now and then which caused sparks, butterflies in your stomach, together on the porch after dinner.

Ben smiled, it was actually a strange thought that he was looking for a woman while Ben himself was also alone, maybe that was why he did it, the things that Ben was missing, he wanted for Dan. Ben frowned.

"A penny for your thoughts." he suddenly heard.

Ben looked up and saw that Dan walked up.

"I was wondering if you need help."

"No, I'm done, you're lucky, but you may come with me to go see if my cattle is still where I've left it behind."

"Okay." Ben said.

His eyes were almost automatically drawn to Dan's bullet wounds, the bullet wounds that had caused by Charlie and Ben immediately felt a pang of rage and anger towards his once righthanded man.

"Ben this was not your fault." Dan said as if reading his mind.

"Yes, it was" he said, his voice dry, "I should have called Charlie back."

"He would not have listened."

Ben looked at him and nodded.

"No probably not, just let me get my shirt, I'll be right out." he said and went inside.

Dan glanced at his gunshot wounds and put his shirt on. He was sure Charlie wouldn't have even heard him, he was so determined to get Ben out he did anything, including shooting Dan. One shot after another, it seemed to go on for an eternity, before Dan could register, Ben stood beside him and leaned down to take the gun hidden in Dan's boot. In one swift movement he shot his own posse down, he saved Charlie for last.


End file.
